Demonstaters at copenhagen town hall square
By Cornelius Dohn & Johanne Elina Nielsen
The sun beams down from a clear spring sky in Copenhagen. At the Town Hall Square, a group of demonstrators stand with banners and posters. One of them, 82-year-old Ninna Schiøttz with a slogan: “They should call it Copen-High-Rise instead of Copenhagen.”
They are protesting the artificial island Lynetteholmen, which the municipality is building. The island is expected to be ready for residents by 2070.
Ninna is concerned about the ocean, fearing the island will harm it. “The plan is to fill the King’s Deep with soil, and the King’s Deep is actually a river in the sea that provides salt water to the Baltic Sea. It is a powerful current that is vital for the flora and fauna and the Baltic Sea.”
Morten Melchiors, spokesperson for the Conservative Party in City Hall, disagrees. “We’ve conducted environmental assessments, and they show no major issues. Of course, any construction affects the environment, but this isn’t destructive. We’re monitoring it closely.”
According to Melchiors,s Lynetteholmen is necessary.
“First of all we need protection against the sea as the rising sea levels are presenting us with a challenge. This is what the protection from the Lynetteholmen will help us with. On top of that it will also provide us with additional housing which we need in Copenhagen so it is solving two major problems for us.”
Pia Weise Pedersen 71, is also protesting. She believes the new housing will be too expensive to solve the housing crisis. However, according to Melchiors, 25% of the housing will be social housing.